Virgin blackout cripples broadband connections

gallery

Various Virgin Media customers across the UK were hit by a broadband blackout yesterday, which appears to be continuing this morning for some.

The outage stretched from 5pm to 8pm yesterday and Virgin has admitted a "routing issue" was to blame.

"Some of customers may have experienced problems getting online for a while yesterday evening," a spokesperson told IT Pro.

"Our engineers quickly fixed the problem and service was restored before 8pm. We apologise for the inconvenience."

Virgin Broadband is down - working from Orange Dongle.

Yet customers have flocked to Twitter to complain of continued problems with their connections.

"Anyone else having major problems with Virgin Broadband today?" said one user.

"Late hello from us as Virgin Broadband is down - working from Orange Dongle," said PopdanceUK.

Virgin has advised customers still experiencing problems to try powering down their routers for five minutes and then switch them back on. That should re-establish the connection, the ISP said.

Upbeat email gaffe

The blackout came in a week that saw Virgin mistakenly send letters to customers about its recently-announced speed upgrade.

An email meant for 100Mbps customers was posted to a cross section of customers, telling them they were going to get 120Mbps services.

However, it emerged after the emails that 50Mbps customers would be getting upgraded to a 120Mbps service anyway. Originally, 100Mbps customers were the only ones set to receive 120Mbps.

"Our first email, intended for our 100Mbps customers, was accidentally sent to some customers on other tiers which may have led to some confusion. We're sorry for any misunderstanding and will be writing to customers again soon to clarify how the upgrade will affect them," a spokesperson said.

"In the meantime, as part of our double speed programme we are delighted to confirm that 50Mbps customers will actually be upgraded to 120Mbps, meaning even more Virgin Media customers will be able to take advantage of the fastest broadband speeds in the UK."

The 50Mbps customers will continue to pay the same for their contracts, whilst 100Mbps users will see their prices drop.

Email to a friend

Print this page